aaaaaah! 6th week already....

...where did the time go?! goodness. i have only 2 weeks left of tutorials after this, and then another week of seminar, and that frightening aquinas paper is looming up on me. i feel like this experience is dwindling away so quickly, but i hope that after classes end i can have more time to really enjoy myself. it's like i spend so much of my time studying, writing, reading, stressing that i hardly feel justified in going out and having a good time. but some really fantastic things have happened, though. i'm super getting into this wine thing; it was definitely worth the money i've invested into it. i don't know... it's like i've found something new that i enjoy, something new that i can be passionate about. and the fantastic thing is that it's not even about "getting drunk;" it's about the experience, about indulging and learning about this whole world and the like. there's a science involved in growing the right grape, in processing it the right way. i mean, just thinking about the effects of barrels (oak? steel?) and the effect they have on the taste, or on the way that grapes have been harvested, or the way in which it's bottled. the type of cork, the colour of the bottle, the temperature at which the beverage is served.... all terribly important and terribly fascinating. chorus, too, is definitely something i'm glad to have gotten involved in. today was my third rehearsal, and i finally felt like my voice was really coming out the way it should. of course, it helps that i'm way more familiar with the music and the notes than i have been over the past few weeks, but tonight was an especially good rehearsal. the girl sitting next to me even turned to me and was like, 'wow, you've got a really cool voice!' something that i haven't heard in a really, really long time. it's interesting. i don't want these things to die when i get back home. the first thing i'm doing is signing up for USF chorus when i get back; i don't care about the time constraints or the involvement. i need to sing. i will literally waste away and die without my music. i've already gotten far more rusty than i ever imagined. and, of course, i want wine to stay in my life. there's this whole silly age barrier that i have to contend with when i return, but there will only be about 8 months to go before i can legally take part in the wine scene. sigh. wine and cheese parties. wine tastings. wine bars. wine classes. buying my own wine... 'twill be heaven. salsa, too, i'm grateful for. i didn't go yesterday because i was feeling really domestic. the thought of putting on clothes and going outside just left me with a bad taste in my mouth, so i ended up skipping class. we'll see if i go next week; depends on how much work i've gotten done. but, strangely, even if i don't end up doing any more classes this term, i know that this is something else that i love and enjoy, something that i will want to continue when i get home.

i suppose this is like a reflection piece, which is appropriate, seeing as our time here is almost half-way through (i think. math has never been my strong point). but it's strange, being on my own, living in a foreign city, making my own choices of what to do and where to go and who to see and how to spend my time. i really am responsible for my own well-being. there is no one here to tell me to go to class, or to study, or to write, or whatever. all of that is my own decision. i'm just pleased that i'm managing to stick to a morning routine of going for my walk, coming home, cleaning up, and getting started with things. this thursday, as i may have mentioned before, is wine tasting, which means that i need to have things pretty much done by 6:30 or so that night. friday morning will find me at nigel frith's house in headington for my narrative tutorial, followed by lunch, and then i'll head back here for my austen tutorial. i'm really excited. the book of choice for the week is austen's final work, persuasion, and is a really, really interesting piece. the paper hasn't been written yet, but i thankfully have a few ideas. i really should do something fun on friday night, maybe something that involves going out... but we'll see. saturday and sunday are devoted to aquinas, as my class tomorrow has been rescheduled for next monday, meaning that i'm going to have 2 aquinas sessions in one week (gahhhhhh!). i've also got to narrow down a topic for that paper, so i'm going to be (gasp!) actually doing so research. hah, val calls it my "quality time with quiny," as i will most likely hole up with my tea and laptop and huddle in bed to get things done. but saturday night should be lovely, as i bought tickets to see the oxford philharmonia do bernstein's 'suites from west side story,' copland's 'fanfare for a common man,' and gershwin's 'rhapsody in blue' -- all of the preeminent american jewish composers of the 20th century, amusingly enough. if that all goes well, then i'll also sign up for the next concert on 6th march, which are works by berlioz and rachmaninov. yay! anyway, off to work a bit more on this slightly tepid idea i have for a novel. here's hoping that i can turn it into something exciting and fun....